GE509 - 7.5cm IG37 Gun

Late war - includes two 7.5cm IG37 guns with crew, one Command SMG team, one Observer Rifle team, one Small three-hole base, one Small two-hole base & two Medium bases.

7.5cm IG37 Gun (GE509)includes two 7.5cm IG37 guns with crew, one Command SMG team, one Observer Rifle team, one Small three-hole base, one Small two-hole base & two Medium bases.

Introduced in 1944, the 7.5cm Infanteriegeschütz (meaning Infantry Gun or IG for short) 37 was based on the gun carriage of 3.7cm PaK36 anti-tank gun which by this late stage of the war was effectually redundant. The gun was originally designated the 7.5cm PaK37, however this caused confusion since the weapon’s primary role was not intended as a anti-tank gun. Therefore, the designation was changed to 7.5cm IG37.

While the gun carriage was an old design, the gun itself was a new design created by Krupp; though the design had been shelved at the time of its conception. The gun had two distinctive features; first was the large four-baffle muzzle brake and the second was the vertical sliding block breech that was considered unusual for a Krupp designed gun. The breech operated in a semi-automatic fashion; once the gun was fired the breechblock would open and eject the spent casing and remained open to allow for rapid reloading. The breech would then closed once the next round was loaded and was ready to fire.

The first 84 guns were delivered in June 1944 and a total 1304 guns were built by the end of the war.